Mannion on his growth, WRs, John Garrett

BEAVERTON, Ore. -- Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion was a counselor at this week’s Elite 11, working with 2015 quarterbacks on Sunday and Monday at Nike World Headquarters. I stopped by to check in with him and see how the offseason is going.

First of all, he said the highlight of his summer are these kind of events (football junkies, rejoice) and that he’s also headed down to the Manning Passing Academy in Louisiana on Wednesday. When he gets back from that the Beavers are going to start running full one's against one's in their group practice sessions.

"As I've grown, it hasn't been 'Oh, I completed a pass,' it has been, 'but how accurate was the pass I completed?'" Sean Mannion said. Christopher Hanewinckel/USA TODAY Sports

Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation.

Mannion seems like a very mature person so I was curious how his approach to the summer/offseason has changed over the past four years. He said he doesn't think it has changed, but he has found different ways to address which areas of his game need to improve. "Most of it is just going out there and throwing with the guys, getting a lot of reps with all the different routes. That way, when it's third-and-7 I can say I've thrown this route 150 times to this guy."

He did say that what has changed in his four years is how hard he is on himself. "As I've grown, it hasn't been 'Oh, I completed a pass,' it has been, 'but how accurate was the pass I completed?' ... I think I've made myself be much more fine with how accurate I am on every ball. It's not just about getting it to them, it's about trying to get the perfect throw on every route."

His rough estimate on how many passes he has thrown this summer: 1,800-2,250. He said he throws 40-50 passes, five days per week. I calculated that at approximately 45 days since their spring game.

The first receiver that Mannion mentioned was sophomore Victor Bolden. No huge surprises there. "Everyone knew he was fast but I think he has been getting better and better at running routes, catching balls." He then went on to mention junior Richard Mullaney and redshirt freshman Hunter Jarmon, saying Jarmon will definitely contribute.

I asked about what he's doing in order to expedite the process of building chemistry with each of these guys since they're such a young group. He brought it back to the number of reps, but then added in that since he's more mature in the offense now, he almost takes to it as a coach with all of them. He has been watching a lot of spring ball film with those guys.

Mannion said he's still getting to know new offensive coordinator John Garrett. Mannion gave the very cookie cutter response that most would expect with a player talking about their coach, but when asked about how he goes about building chemistry with a brand new OC going into his own final year, he got a bit more interesting. "It is an important relationship. Coach [Danny Langsdorf] and I were together for four years so we had gotten to know each other well. I felt like we were close. I feel like I'm growing closer to coach Garrett. ... I think a lot of it is in the film room, your quarterback meetings when it's just and him and maybe a few other quarterbacks. ... When you're just talking about football. Maybe you tell him what you're seeing on a play, he tells you what he's seeing -- that's kind of where you develop that relationship, that trust."